“Ralph is the dude! Entertaining and excellent teacher. Ralph has a deep knowledge of wetlands and much more (is a joy to listen to).”
-Thomas D'Angelo, Environmental Consultant, on Instructor Ralph Tiner

Virtually all activities conducted in and around wetlands are regulated – from excavating underground storage tanks to soil compaction for paving a driveway or patio to pruning of overgrown vegetation – and violators are subject to hefty penalties and fines from the NJ-DEP.

Knowing if a wetland is on your property or a site on which you work is incredibly important! But how do you determine if a wetland is present?

Why not educate yourself? Take our class to get the basic tools you need to identify a wetland's presence. Once you make a determination, you will know if you need to go further and hire an environmental professional to evaluate the site and assist you with the permit process.

In this one-day combination classroom and field course, a nationally recognized wetlands expert will review the skills you need to identify freshwater wetlands and their boundaries and introduce you to wetland plant identification and soil recognition. You will learn:

Why wetlands are important

How they differ

What indicators are used for wetland identification

About the current regulations in New Jersey

You'll also find out how to access and use government maps in order to identify wetlands on your property, on lands you may be interested in purchasing or on properties on which you conduct environmental, landscaping or other site development or remediation work. You'll even get a simple introduction to the practice of wetland delineation (the technical skill of determining a wetlands precise boundaries) --- all in one day!

For those interested in advancing their wetland knowledge, this course will provide the essential background material needed for further study in the step-by-step regulatory and delineation techniques covered in the Methodology for Delineating Wetlands course.

ATTENTION HEALTH OFFICERS AND REGISTERED ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SPECIALISTS: Rutgers University, NJAES, Office of Continuing Professional Education has been approved by the New Jersey Department of Health as a provider of NJ Public Health Continuing Education Contact Hours (CEs). Participants who complete this education program will be awarded 6.0 NJ Public Health Continuing Education Contact Hours (CEs).

Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program (SWSPCP) - Introduction to Wetland Identification has been pre-approved for 0.5 equivalent semester hours by the SWSPCP as meeting standards for content and instruction toward SWSPCP Professional Certification or SWSPCP Professional Certification Renewal. Approval per course is calculated based upon 15 hours of contact time per credit. Click here for more information about the Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program (SWSPCP).

Meet the Instructor

Ralph Tiner, M.S., M.P.A. has over 40 years of practical experience in wetland delineation and is a nationally recognized authority in the field. He recently retired from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service where he directed wetland mapping in the Northeast United States as part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's National Wetlands Inventory (NWI). He is a nationally recognized expert on wetland delineation and has been actively involved in improving wetland delineation techniques for decades. In addition, he was compiler and principal author of the Federal Interagency Wetland Delineation Manual, which was published in 1989 and is the standard for identifying and delineating wetlands in New Jersey.

Ralph has written extensively on the subject of wetlands and is the author of several field guides including: Field Guide to Non-tidal Wetland Identification, Maine Wetlands and Their Boundaries, A Field Guide to Coastal Wetland Plants of the Northeastern United States, and In Search of Swampland, as well as an update of the Wetland Indicators book entitled Wetland Indicators: A Guide to Wetland Formation, Identification, Delineation, Classification, and Mapping. His most recent books are: Tidal Wetlands Primer: An Introduction to Their Ecology, Natural History, Status, and Conservation and Remote Sensing of Wetlands: Applications and Advances (for which he is senior editor and authored several chapters).

In addition to writing about wetlands, he has been teaching wetland identification and delineation courses through the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education Office since the mid-1980s.

Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided to you at no additional cost.

NOTE: If you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies, please alert us at least one (1) week in advance of the course start date so that we can make reasonable accommodations. We cannot guarantee accommodations for special requests made after that time.

Note: Pre-registration is required. We're sorry, but we cannot guarantee a seat, materials or meals for walk-in registrants. Location is subject to change; registrants will be notified in the event of a change.

All of the courses offered by the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education are approved by the New Jersey State Approving Agency for Veterans Training for tuition reimbursement through the GI Bill. For more information about the GI Bill, click here.

Course Reviews

"Great hands-on introductory course. Great overview - field work was a big plus to see what was taught in class. [Will] use it on site during site evaluation."
- William C. Violn, Jr., Civil Engineer, 2011 attendee

"Ralph is the dude! Entertaining and excellent teacher. Ralph has a deep knowledge of wetlands and much more (is a joy to listen to)."
- Thomas D'Angelo, Environmental Consultant, 2012 attendee